1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to vacuum planters and more specifically it relates to a vacuum planter exhaust filtration system for preventing seed treatment particles used in seed planting from entering the atmosphere.
2. Description of the Related Art
Any discussion of the related art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such related art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
Vacuum planters are agricultural implements that are used to plant a seed crop in a field. Vacuum planters are desirable over air seeders and conventional planters because they provide for seed singulation resulting in precise placement of individual seeds with even spacing within a field. A vacuum planter operates the opposite of an air seeder because a vacuum pulls seeds to rotating seed plates that have individual vacuum holes that retain the individual seeds until the vacuum is removed from the individual vacuum hole thereby releasing the corresponding seed into a seed tube.
A conventional vacuum planter utilizes a fan to create a vacuum utilized to retain the individual seeds on a planting disc in a meter housing (a.k.a. vacuum housing) in a planting unit until being released into a furrow. Some vacuum planters utilize a central hopper that distributes the seed to the individual planting units via pressurized air and some seeders have individual seed hoppers for each of the planting units. Regardless of the type of vacuum planter utilized, the fan has an exhaust port to release the air drawn into the fan from the planting units that is utilized to retain the seed on the planting disc.
Most seed utilized for vacuum planters is treated with a seed treatment such as but not limited to talc, seed coating, insecticides, herbicides, antimicrobial treatment, fungicides, fertilizer, growth enhancers, seed coloring and other chemicals. Unfortunately, the air drawn in from the planting units by the fan of a vacuum planter includes particulate material comprised of seed treatment removed from the seed during planting. The particulate material drawn into the fan is then exhausted externally of the vacuum planter via the exhaust port of the fan and is free to contaminate the surrounding environment.
European countries have recently linked commonly utilized seed treatment insecticides (e.g. clothianidin, imidacloprid) to harming bees resulting in dramatic drops in bee counts and possibly to colony collapse disorder. It is believed that talc combined with insecticides are blown into the environment by the fan of the vacuum planter where it is mixed with the pollen resulting in exposure to bees feeding on the pollen in the flowers. In addition, the particulate material dispersed into the environment may contaminate standing water near the planting area. Finally, the particulate material being dispersed into the air by the vacuum planter is not desirable to be touched or inhaled by humans.
Because of the inherent problems with the related art, there is a need for a new and improved vacuum planter exhaust filtration system for preventing seed treatment particles used in seed planting from entering the atmosphere.